I just saw this vid from yesterdays finals of the purple 83kg class of the Abu Dhabi Pro gi featuring Aussie, Kit Dale. This guy is a beast. Only trained for about 3 years and wins just about everything he enters in Oz.

Watching this made me think of this thread. Rather than getting in a battle of the far side underhook, he switches hips and (at least early in the fight) overhooks the near side (bottom) arm to work his knee out for the knee slide. Right through the fight he really concentrates on controlling the bottom arm and kind of takes the top arm out of the equation.

While this isn't an underhook of the nearside arm, I think it's relevant to the thread because of the strong control of the near side arm.

Check it out:

That is a good example of how the gi makes a difference. You can control the near side arm much easier and more securely with a jacket than without. Much more judo-esque than no gi.

The guy on bottom seemed to be stuck in half guard mode, even though the other guy had him shut down the entire match.

Ben

Falling for Judo since 1980

"You are wrong. Why? Because you move like a pregnant yak and talk like a spazzing 'I train UFC' noob." -DCS